Vacation with the stars (or babies, whateva......)

This is the 1st of many entries (I hope) this week. We are at the grandparents for the week (note to all the villians reading this, no, the house is NOT empty we have a housesitter who eats bad guys for a light snack so move along, nothing to see here).

This is our niece Angelina meeting Mel for the 1st time.

A Baby is a Baby, but you can build things out of wood

Don't the girls look cute in these outfits that Auntie Mel made?
Of course they look cute period. But is it just me, or do these outfits look kinda like superhero costumes?

WONDERBUG POWERS ACTIVATE!

Notice the pretty blue background?
It's the covering of top I made for a old trunk that we got from the grandparents so I would have a place big enough for Mel and Libby's bouncy chairs. Sue had the incredibly bright idea to upholster it which has made it ever so much more useful.

I am a pretty great Stay@Home Dad, a pretty darn good salesman (2 individual and 1 team "Circle of Excellance" awards), a better than decent cook. What I really am not great at is woodworking. Right now that p@@@s me off.

I've always been fascinated by the whole concept of taking a tree and turning it into something useful.

I'd say my skill level right now is better than Homer Simpson ( It may not look pretty, but it works) and Tim "The Toolman" Taylor (I only occasionally hurt myself), but not by much (my opinion). But the part that gives me hope is that everything I make, I learn so much. If I had to make this over, It would be cheaper and better looking.

Not stronger. I tend to over engineer things, turns out. The top is so sturdy, that if there is a hurricane, tornado, meteor, etc., I'm hiding under it.

The 3 sided wall partition is an add-on to keep the kids from seeing the TV (according to the American Association of Pediatrics, there is a pretty strong relationship between TV watching below the age of 2 and A.D.D.

Hands can be so so handy Part 2

We've been using the Avent bottles with Libby and Mel. I had researched them and decided that they were the best on the market. I was pleased (ok, feeling pretty smug) when I found out that the NICU were using the same brand of bottle.








One of the really cool things about the bottles (other than they allow less air into their stomachs) is that they transistion from bottles to sippy cups.





Right now, we've added the handle mod and the girls are learning to hold the bottle. Last night I put the handles on empty 4 ounce bottles and let the girls play with them. here are the photos. :)









"Yes! This formula will be mine. Oh yes, It WILL be mine."

Home Movies!

This the video that Sue made for her grandmother's 100th birthday celebration, so she could meet her newest great granddaughters. I thought Sue had done such a great job on it, I asked if I could putit on the blog.
It runs just over 28 minutes, and is optimized for a low end broadband connection.


Watch the Video

Oh, We're Having a Heat Wave, A Tropical Heat Wave

This week has brought us temps in the high 80's to low 90's (F not C), although it is beginning to cool ever so slightly. So we have gone to "Baby Casual" around the house (i.e. Diapers, Oneies if they have to go outside.). I've even shed the Tee shirt once or twice :)


The girls have been handling it really well, even
taking (what passes for) naps in the nursery (our Upstairs stays a good 10-15 degress warmer than downstairs.





The girls have this fantastic bond that is amazing to watch. Whenever they are close enough to touch, they do :)







Oh, Big news, Mel rolled over on her own on Monday. Shocked the heck out of Her and me :) One day I hope to catch it on film (disk whatever). Libby is trying so hard to follow suite, so I expect her to do it anytime.

Monday Monday

10 am: Today is the day that Daddy, in his not so infinite wisdom, has decided to get the girls on a nap schedule. No more will the girls spend the days asleep in the packn'play or bouncy chairs whenever THEY decide is a good time.
Now after they have been up no MORE than 2 hours, they go up to their room and lie down. If they sleep 20 minutes, fine. If they sleep 2 hours, great, but within 2 hours of waking, they go back down.

Note to self: Talk to sue about making the guest room (which is downstairs) the nursery, or get a ranch house next time. We have too many stairs :)

But, this isn't about what's "convenient" or easy for me, but what, in the long run, is going to be best for the girls. They are NOT happy with this, Let me tell you. I can hear them scream about it over the monitor (ok, I could hear them scream if I had the volume turned up, but the downstairs receiver has a vibrate feature that I'm using. It sounds Like we have a swarm of bees. I do turn the sound up every minute or so to make sure that it's just them being mad and not something really wrong).

It's now 10:15, in about 5 minutes I will go up and comfort them, (but not pick them up) and then leave again. Rinse and repeat until they have slept and woken up or 2(ish) hours have passed. this is NOT an easy thing to do. I, like most parents, are hardwired to want to pick up and comfort a crying child.

10:20 Am: Silence on the monitor. I sneak upstairs, Libby and Mel are sound asleep, looking so peaceful. I feel better now

Ok, on to other things. I remember Sue asking me last night if I had put the memory card back in the camera after I had updated the blog last night. I, of course, said "yup", well, as it turned out I didn't. Fortunately I had the camera configured that if a memory card is in, it stores to the card otherwise it goes to internal memory.
After I had put the card back in and copied the pics I'd taken this morning to the card, I discovered some other pictures of the girls that had never made it to the card, but were hiding in memory, so here are some photos that I'm not sure when they were made (a couple I know,but not others) and then as a special bonus, one of the girls practicing for the Olympics :)






I think this was from around the 1st part of April











Auntie Mel and the Girls :)











Auntie Cecelia, Mommy, Daddy, and Libby











Synchronized Finger Sucking: The next big sport for the rest of us?

So Little Time to post, So Much time to be Amazed

I know that it's been weeks since I've updated the blog. It hasn't been because of inattention, or laziness, but the girls have been so much alive lately, that I've been hard pressed to do much more than play with them, attend to their needs, and be amazed as they start to react and relate to their new world....

Here are some photos since last update.






The girls entertain a houseguest in "Daddy's chair".













This is Mel holding herself upright in her bouncy chair. She is so Strong!










Mommy and the girls.














Mel helping Daddy make the guest bed













Auntie Cecelia shares a happy moment in this special episode of It's a Mel-iful Life.